David Bicknell reports from the final of the Computer Weekly
five-a-side football tournament
When Constellar turned up at Arsenal's Highbury Stadium for the
Computer Weekly Five-A-Side Challenge last week, from the
outset they played as if they thought their name was on the
cup.
And by the end it was. Constellar walked away with the trophy
after a hard fought 2-1 victory over Generic in a final that looked
as if it was destined to go all the way to nail-biting
penalties.
Constellar had qualified for the final after romping through
their final round-robin group, while Generic had a similar clear
victory in their play-off group. That left the pundits nodding
sagely, and predicting a final between Calanais - better known to
many under their old name Scottish Power - and Constellar.
Constellar saw off Salmon, but Generic upset the form book, edging
out the former tournament winners to ensure that a new name would
go on the trophy.
Other teams that excelled, in addition to the four
semi-finalists, were final group qualifiers Interplay, Superdrug,
Digital, Brake Bros, Prosolve, and Red Cats.
The tournament shocks came in the group stages, where serial
contenders Scott Edgar, and last year's winners QSP failed to
qualify. But those in the know suggested that the Gateshead team
had still made the most of their "weekend" trip to London from the
North-East.
Calanais had some consolation for their semi-final
disappointment when Neil McLure produced a Patrick Kluivert-like
Euro 2000 goalscoring performance, with a hat-full of goals to win
Player of the Tournament.
Gary Bramhall of Littlewoods won the draw for the Dreamcast
console offered by Sega, while Geoff Busby of the BCS Disability
Group received a cheque for over £4,000 from the proceeds of last
year's event.
The event is again expected to raise thousands of pounds for
three charities - the Arsenal Charitable Trust, BCS Disability
Group, and a new beneficiary this year, the British Heart
Foundation.
Thanks again to all our sponsors: Scott Edgar - who's Dave
Millhouse did a great job running the event - Bull, Apex, Computer
Associates, and first time sponsors this year, Insight.
Thanks also go to Sega, who provided the competition prize and a
number of Dreamcast "Pods" at Highbury, Arsenal's Ray Coventry for
organising match-day fixtures, and Tim Holton of Computer
Associates, Martin Chasten from Bull, Ian Stewart from the British
Heart Foundation, and Geoff Busby from the BCS Disability Group for
their attendance at the finals.
See you again next year.
Roll of honour
| Winner | Constellar | (trophy provided by
Scott Edgar) |
| Runner-up | Generic | (trophy provided by
Scott Edgar) |
| 3rd place | Calanais | (trophy provided by
Computer Associates) |
| 4th place | Salmon | (trophy provided by
Insight) |
| Player of the
tournament | Neil
McLure | (Calanais) |
For a full list of results visit the tournament
Web site